Each Saturday on the Politics Now blog, you'll find a list of stories that caught the eyes of The News' political reporters. Here's a sampling of what they were reading the last couple weeks:
"When the moderator is too moderate" by Dave Davies of WHYY in Philadelphia. Anyone who watched the presidential debate on Wednesday likely had an opinion of the performance of moderator Jim Lehrer, who has much experience in the role. Wednesday though, he seemed to lose control of the debaters. Davies writes that Lehrer could have been better prepared, while Lehrer tells the Huffington Post's Michael Calderone that he will not be moderating again.
NPR's David Welna looks at deficit plans from President Barack Obama and former Gov. Mitt Romney, and finds that both plans won't eliminate it.
In a tweet, Former GE CEO Jack Welch accused the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics of changing unemployment numbers to enhance Obama's image, and told the Wall Street Journal he wasn't kidding, according to Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post.
The jobs numbers - less than 8 percent unemployment - are good news for Obama, according to David Leonhardt and Mark Landler in the New York Times. Nicole Gelinas, who is a senior fellow with the Manhattan Institute, credited the housing market, according to an interview with Capital New York's Azi Paybarah.
This wouldn't qualify for news, and it doesn't involve much reading. But on a lighter note, Buzzfeed chronicles the history of first ladies and Big Bird. The current secretary of state is making a face she doesn't make in public much these days.
